Wandering through December
by Ryeloza
Summary: Cole and Leo have a guys' night out. Set during season four.


**A/n: **I'm back with another request story! **Piperloveleoalways** asked for a story in which Cole and Leo have a guys' night out. I came up with this, which is a culmination of several ideas I had dealing with Cole at this point in season four. I hope that everyone enjoys this! Thanks for reading.

_Katie_

**Setting:** December 2001

**Wandering through December**

A story by **Ryeloza**

Piper had kicked him out of the house.

Phoebe had said that it served him right as she pecked his lips and shut the door behind him, but Cole thought the least Piper could have done was give him the car keys. Now he was left to wander San Francisco alone.

Or so he thought.

Mere seconds after the door had shut, leaving Cole alone and confused on the doorstep, the door swung open once again and Leo stepped outside. "You too?" asked Cole bitterly.

"No," said Leo. "I left voluntarily."

Cole smirked at this. "Good idea. Get out before you're kicked out. No offense, but your wife is the most neurotic—"

"Why don't you stop before you say something you'll regret?" said Leo. His tone was superficially light; Cole could tell a real threat lay underneath, but somehow Leo just couldn't inspire fear in him. "You wouldn't want to be out alone in that sweater, after all," Leo added. The tension in the air snapped and Cole laughed.

"This really is the ugliest sweater I've _ever_ seen," said Cole. He held the fabric away from his body and glanced down at the large, jolly Santa Clause knitted into the sweater. Leo studied his similarly: a big, snowman with a garish orange scarf on a blue backdrop. There were snowflakes on his. Cole was torn over which was worse.

"Paige means well," said Leo generously. Paige had commissioned four sweaters from her aunt Claire, who apparently made one for each member of her family every Christmas. She'd given them out early so they could all wear them before Christmas; Cole had never been so stunned in his life. If not for Phoebe's insistence that he wear the sweater, Santa would be in the trash right now.

"Either she means well," said Cole, "or she's a master of torture. Phoebe had to threaten me to get me to wear it."

Leo laughed. "I had to threaten Piper," he said. "She wanted to blow hers up."

"You can't blame her," said Cole. Piper's sweater, truly, had been the ugliest: two cardinals cuddling under a sprig of mistletoe. "Maybe that's why she's in such a bad mood."

Leo shook his head, clearly ready to change the subject. "Where do you want to go?" he asked.

Cole shrugged. "I don't know. What do two guys do when their girls kick them out of the house?"

"I have no idea," said Leo. "I'm not sure I've ever been in this situation before."

"Yeah, me either," said Cole. "But I guess since we don't have a car we just start walking."

They started down the stairs and took a right at the bottom, heading down the street in an amiable silence. Cole was still getting used to spending time with any of Phoebe's family one-on-one. He supposed, mostly, they weren't as bad as he had initially thought. Piper was high-strung and obsessive and prone to depressive moods, but then, so was Cole. Honestly, it scared him a little how similar he and Piper actually were. Leo, whom Cole had initially assumed he'd have nothing in common with and whom he had hated instinctively for being a Whitelighter, had actually garnered a grudging respect from Cole. It had been that day that Piper had summoned him when Phoebe was turned into a banshee; the look in Leo's eyes and automatic defensive pose he'd taken to protect Piper from Cole had inspired some admiration from Cole. That was something he could relate to. He'd lay down his life for Phoebe.

Of course, Piper would do the same for Leo. He wasn't sure Phoebe would do so for him.

"Is Phoebe doing okay?" asked Leo. The question was asked primarily to break the silence, which annoyed Cole.

"She seems fine," said Cole brusquely.

"I just meant with Christmas coming up," said Leo. "Since this is the first without Prue. Piper's been kind of a wreak. I think that's why she was so upset today."

"Oh yeah," said Cole, who had honestly forgotten. He'd never celebrated Christmas before and he still wasn't quite sure what the big deal was. It seemed odd that one day in December would cause that grief to swell again so ferociously. "Well Phoebe seems fine. I mean, I don't know."

"Things have been kind of strained between you two," said Leo and Cole frowned at the fact that the words were a statement, not a question. This was one thing he couldn't stand about having a family; why did everyone have to be in everyone else's business? Cole responded with a noncommittal grunt.

"You know," said Leo, not taking the hint, "Piper said no when I first proposed."

"Really?" said Cole, curious in spite of himself.

"She thought I was doing it for the wrong reasons. But the point is that she changed her mind."

"How long did it take?" asked Cole.

"What?" asked Leo, but Cole could tell he was more startled by the question than confused.

"How long did it take for her to change her mind?"

"Uh…" said Leo hesitantly. "Two days."

"Well it's been two weeks since I proposed to Phoebe," said Cole. "And I don't think she's ever going to change her mind."

"She just needs some time," said Leo.

"Maybe she needs some space," said Cole. "I'm thinking about leaving."

Leo faltered for a moment, clearly taken aback. "You're going to leave?" he asked.

"I think so," said Cole. "Phoebe and I have been fighting a lot lately. And I don't even know who I am anymore. I gave up everything I was and everything I could have been for her and she doesn't even want me. So yeah, I'm going to leave for awhile." He paused and then added, "I just need some time to figure things out."

"She'll come around," said Leo. "Piper thinks so."

"Oh, well if Piper thinks so," said Cole. He rolled his eyes. "I know you and Piper think you know everything about my and Phoebe's relationship, but you don't."

"You need to get off your pedestal, Cole," said Leo, "and stop being such a martyr. Yeah, you gave up a lot for Phoebe and she didn't respond the way you wanted her to. So what? Piper did the same thing to me. I had to wait two months just for her to decide if she wanted a relationship with me. Be thankful for what you have."

"Yeah," said Cole, "but you got the girl and your life back. Would you have been happy if you had never gotten your powers back? Seriously?"

"I…don't know," said Leo. "But I'd like to think I could give it all up for Piper. If I had to make the choice."

"Well I guess we'll never know," said Cole bitterly.

"Your life's not over just because you're not a demon and you're having some problems with Phoebe," said Leo. "You've just got to find something else to do with your life."

"Thanks for the advice," said Cole sarcastically. "I already know that. That's why I'm leaving, understand?"

Leo lapsed into silence and glanced down a street to the right. "Come on," he said.

"Come on where?" asked Cole tiredly.

"I found something for us to do," said Leo as he headed down the street. Cole followed reluctantly, falling in step behind Leo. He didn't realize where Leo was leading him until they were standing in front of the large Catholic church.

"I'm not going to mass with you," said Cole. "Forget it."

"We're not here for mass," said Leo. "We're here for this." He pointed at a sign in the yard of the church proclaiming Tuesday bingo night.

"Bingo?" asked Cole with a raised eyebrow. "Come on! Will they even let us in? Isn't that for senior citizens?"

Leo smiled and Cole suddenly got Leo's point. He grinned. "Okay," he said. "But only because it's funny that we technically are."

The next day he left the manor to figure things out, three hundred dollars richer.


End file.
